2019 Progress Report

After the success we had on the Family Bucket List earlier this year, I really thought we were going to blaze through them. And then life caught up with us, and we were chasing them all at the end. Here's a look at what we managed to get done...

I'm pleased to say that we managed 18 of the 25 items. Mathematically it doesn't sound like much, but if you consider that we got some of the bigger ones, I'm pretty pleased. I also think that it's better than we did in 2018, so at least we're making progress.

What we did well is shown in green, and there are a couple separate posts throughout the year on these. Still, there needs to be a special mention for these:

• Eating out - it took some planning and budgeting, but we managed it.
• Being in the moment - spontaneity isn't really my bent, so I'm pretty chuffed we got this.
• Limiting time on phones - I have to admit that Andel has been the best at this!
• Practising apologising quickly - only by God's grace!

Things we'll have to focus on next year:

• Playing more board games - Zac is into scrabble, and we recently did a date day doing this together, but we're going to have to come up with more than that to have the other kids join in too, and with so many family options on offer, we really should just get on with it.
• Better communication - maybe letter writing is lost on this generation, so we're going to go with voice notes, text messages and videos. Let's be relevant here!
• Cook a self caught fish on the braai - this is the goal! Camp. Fish. Braai. Good luck to us. We've never really done any of that together before.
• Create a photo wall - this is shameful. I have canvas vouchers and plenty of gorgeous pics. If I don't do this before April there is no hope for me.
• Grow a house plant - I'm not sure I have the space or patience to do this, so I'm going to plant some trees instead.
• Travel on the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus - I think our timing was just bad here. In the summer, when the weather is best, is also when it costs the most. The first special I see come up for this, I'm going to book us.
• Visit an animal shelter - I think we've been warming our animal-scarred children to this. Now that they are comfortable (and have adopted the neighbourhood kitten) I think we can graduate to doing this soon, before the Winter.

Here's to continuing our upward progression in 2020, and having a good time in the process!